Greg Sterling over at Search Engine Land posts a startling (but not surprising) report that internet ad spend will surpass traditional media ad spend by 2011.

Driven by audience migration, the US Internet is anticipated to capture $61.98 billion and become the top ad medium in 2011. Traditional media will show slow, low single-digit growth while alternative media will grow at a compound annual rate of 17.4 percent during the forecast period.

WebmasterWorld members don't find it surprising either. In fact, it can be often viewed as the desire for newspapers not to conform.

The leading online newspaper consultant screamed at his clients to get into the retail and business directory biz online. They just sat there. Yellow Pages and Google took it over.

Scary thought but quite true.

The Internet is taking a chunk of advertising. Media is evolving. To stay in the game, newspapers will have to get up to speed and bring their services online.